Road-drag.



M; T. AUSTIN.

ROAD DRAG.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4. 1916.

1,201,915. w Patented oat. 17,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY M. T. AUSTIN.

ROAD DRAG.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4. I916.

Patehted Oct. 17, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- R O N E V N WITNESSES ATTORNEY 104.1114). waslmvc ION, n. c.

.ED STATE PATENT GFFIGE.

MARTIN '1. AUSTIN, OF SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA.

ROAD-DRAG.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN T. AUs'rIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sioux Falls, in the county of Minnehaha and State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road-Drags, of which the following is a specification. y

vThis invention relates to an improvement in drags, and more particularly to such devices as are intended for and adapted to be used in straightening up and working over the top surface of roads. An object ofvmy invention is to provide a drag which is so constructed that it may be horse drawn, or otherwise dragged over a'roadway, and will cut down the sides of the road bedand bring the material thus accumulated to the center of the roadway;

the sides of the road and brought to the center; but is also distributed and smoothed to give the desired smoothness to the roads surface without further treatment to level the same, and to also construct the device in a manner that portions of the structure may be used or dispensed with as occasion may seem to require and a varied action in the treatment of the road or surface can be accomplished.

With the above and other objects in view my'invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter set forth in connection with the drawings and then more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of the structure. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig.8 is a view taken in section on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. l is a view in perspective of a structural member of the device.

The side scrapers 1 and 2 are continued in the scraper members 3 and 4 which are joined thereto by the frame structure to be hereinafter more fully described, and these drag or scraper members are arranged to form the side scraper bar 5 constituting the members 1 and 3, and the side scraper Specification of LettersPatent. Pafii gnted Get. 17, 1916.

Application filed May 4,1916.

Serial No. 95,420.

or in any other desired manner and cross frame members 9 and 10 are secured between the side scraper bars 5 and 6 to hold the same rigidly mounted in the desired angular disposition, the longitudinally extending frame members 11 and 12 being mounted between the transversely disposed frame members 9 and 1G to give additional bracing and support to the entire structure.

A cross brace 13 is connected between the spread ends of the side scraper members 3 and a which are brought together to form the apex 1% of the side scraper bars 5 and G, and thus these members 3 and 4: are connected together as a unit, the bolts 15 being used to secure the member 3 in alinement with the member 1 and the bolts 16. being used at the opposite side of the structure to secure the member 4 in line with the scraper member 2 so that by the removal of the bolts 15 and 16, the structure comprising the side scraper members 8 and 4 and the cross brace 13 may be removed from its connection with the remaining elements. and the cross member 18 will form a frame structure to hold the side scraper members 3' and a in the proper relation, while the side scraper members 1 and 2 will be held in the proper relation. by the transversely,

end of the side scraper members'l and 2, it is preferable that the brace bars 17 and 18 be connected between the ends thereof and the cross frame member 9, and it is also perhaps desirable that the forward ends of the scraper members 1 and 2 be curved or rounded off as at 19 so that the four corners will not dig into the earth whenthe machine is being dragged over a road, but rather the action will be a dragging action throughout the entire extent of each of the side members 5 and 6.

Draw bars 20 and21, the construction of which is better shown in Fig. 4, are brought together at their forward ends and are connected by a link 22 with the transverse frame member 9-, the connection being at the approximate center of this member and the draw bars 20 and 21 being extended in divergent disposition rearwardly and connected with the drag bar 23 at each end of the same. Links 24 and 25 are connected with the ends of the drag bar 23 and are extended forwardly and are connected with the cross frame member 9, this connection with the links 2 1 and 25 as wellas the connection with the link 22 being such that the drag bar 23 and the draw bars 20 and 21 connected therewith are permitted to have free swinging movement with respect to the frame member 9.

Suitable hitch loops or eyes 26 and 27 are connected with the cross frame member 9 at the ends thereof and drag chains 28 and 29 are connected in these loops or eyes and at their free ends are connected in'a. hitch ring 30, this ring being provided to permit a draft hitch to the machine. A ring 31 is connected in the apex 14L of the drag or scraper bars and thus by establishing a hitch between the ring 30 of one machine and the ring 31 of a second device, the drags may be hitched to travel in gangs where it is desired to give a second treatment to the road,

this necessitating only passage of the devices'over any particular strip of. the road.

In the use of the device, when the parts are connected, as is shown in the illustration in the drawings, the hitch is accomplished through the ring 30 and as the drag is moved forward in the direction indicated by the arrow of Fig. 1, the forward rounded corners 19 of the scraper members 1 and 2 will ride over the surface of the road and these members 1 and 2 will drag to take up loose earth and to level any obstructions or rises in the road bed, and due to the fact that the side scraper members 5 and 6 are angularly disposed to be convergent rearwardly, the material scraped up or dragged from the road i will be directed inwardly and the drag member 23 will pass this portion of thematerial and will at the same time act through its own initiative to treat the central portion of the road, this drag bar due to the fact i 1 that it is disposed transversely of the machine acting to distribute the material as conducted thereto by-the angularly disposed side scraper bars 5 and 6 and to level the center of the road, however, a portion of the loose earth taken up by the bars 5 and 6 will escape the drag bar 23 and the scraper members 3 and 4: will catch this earth and will cause distribution of the same in the center of the road way. It will of course be understood that when the side scraper members 3 and 4: are removed through the release of the bolts 15 andl6, the action will be accomplished solely through the members 1 a and 2 and the drag bar 23, however, it has been found'that' a more eflicient action is attained where the members 3 and 4 are also used. Where two or more of the devices are hitched to be drawn one following the other, it will be understood that the forward machine might have the members 3 and 4 secured in place and the last machine might have the members removed, and also that devices of various sizes, that is, having various widths, and also perhaps having the angularity or the size thereof varied, might be connected, and thus a rough action might be obtained by the first machine and a finishing action by the last machine of the gang hitched to give the constructive treating working to the road. Where desired, the hitch might be made to a power tractor or to any other power draft means and where this is done,.a number of machines might be hitched so that they'would trail and thus a very thorough working of the road might V be accomplished.

A shaft 32 is mounted on the frame member 9 and then has the ofiset bearing portions 33 and 34 which portions have the carrying wheels 35 and 36 mounted rotatably thereon, and a shaft 37 mounted near nected with arms 42 and 43 carried by the shafts 32 and 37, through the medium of the links 44 and 15. An arcuated rack 46 is provided to permit setting of this lever 4:0, and thus the carrying wheels 35, 36, and

39 may be either raised to be entirely out of contact with the road bed to permit action of the device as a drag, or these carrying wheels may be swung to the relation shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and the device will then be supported and carried with the side bars 5 and 6 entirely above the surface over which the machine is being moved.

1 While I have herein shown and described only one specific form of the device, it will be understood that the arrangement of the carrying wheels together with the means for operating the same, the connection of the frame and bracing structures and other parts might be varied, and also that a number of changes in the structure might be resorted to as demanded by conditions concurrent with-the particular adaptation of the device, and I therefore desire to reserve the right to resort to such changes in the details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts, as may be necessary without sacrificing any of the advantages of my invention, in so far as these variations may be set forth in the claims.

I claim: 1

1. A drag comprising side bars secured together in angularly disposed relation with the rear ends abutting in an apex, a cross frame member connected between the spread side bars forwardly of the apex and in a position at right angles to the line of movement of the device as it is drawn.

2. A drag comprising a pair of scraper members angularly disposed with the proximate ends thereof spaced apart, a hitch by which said drag may be drawn forward with the spread ends of said members forward, a drag bar mounted between the angularly disposed members to extend across the opening between the spacedproximate ends of said members, and extension scraper members connected with said angularly disposed members to continue the lines thereof and having their inner ends connected together in an apex to form a structure supplementing the action accomplished by the drag bar.

3. A drag comprising a pair of side scraper members arranged in angular disposition with the proximate rear ends thereof spaced apart, transversely extending frame members connected between said scraper members to mount the same rigidly and maintain the angular and spaced disposition thereof, draft attaching means by which the device may be drawn forward with the spread ends of the scraper bars foremost, a drag bar, links pivotally connecting said drag bar with one of the transversely extending frame members to dispose said bar across the opening between the rear ends of the side scraper members, said drag bar being of greater extent than the opening be tween the rear ends of the side scraper members to receive material as taken up by said scraper members and accomplish an equal distribution of the material through the opening between the side members, extension side scraper members connected in angular disposition with the rear ends thereof secured'together to form an apex and the forward ends connected in separated relation correspondingeto the separation of the side scraper bars, and means by which said extension scraper membersare connected to the side scraper members to form a sub stantial continuation thereof and to accomplish an additional treating action over the action attained by the drag bar.

4. A drag comprising a pair of side scraper bars arranged in angular disposition with the proximate rear ends thereof abutting in an apex, a cross frame member connected between the spread ends of said side bars, a hitch connected rearwardly of the spread ends of said side bars by which the device may be moved forwardly with the apex trailing, a drag bar of less longitudinal extent than the space embraced between the spread ends of the side bars located within the angle of said bars forwardly of the apex, and links connected from said drag bar to the cross frame member to permit movement of the bar in a swinging path between the side bars and to allow the same to be movedby gravity to a position to drag upon the surface over which the drag is being drawn. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARTIN T. AUSTIN. Witnesses JOHN H. FITZPATRIOK, C. O. CALDWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

